The next Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-view has
just gained a huge addition.

On just two weeks’ notice, Belal
Muhammad (22-3, 1 NC) will be setting foot in the Octagon
against Gilbert
Burns (22-5). Per a UFC
announcement on Thursday, the two will be replacing the rescheduled
booking of Charles
Oliveira–Beneil
Dariush for the co-headlining spot on UFC
288. This event on May 6 held at the Prudential Center in
Newark, New Jersey, will see this top welterweight contender tilt
play out over the course of five rounds. Although Burns recently
claimed he would take no offering but a shot at the belt, he
posted
about wanting this fight back on Monday.

Burns is fresh off a three-round decision win over Jorge
Masvidal on UFC 287 this April. Since a tooth-and-nail scrap
with Khamzat
Chimaev a year ago, Burns has rattled off a pair of wins to
push himself back towards the top of contention. Of note, Burns
performed his first submission at welterweight when he tapped
Neil
Magny in January. After nine stints in his new weight category
of 170 pounds, the only two fighters to beat him were sitting champ
Kamaru
Usman and the aforementioned Chimaev.

While Burns has gone 7-2 at welterweight, Muhammad has strung
together eight wins and a no contest since his last defeat. In his
last fight in October 2022, Muhammad punched out then-unbeaten
Sean
Brady to earn his first knockout in over six years. While his
no contest with Leon
Edwards thanks to an eye poke left them with unfinished
business, Muhammad has gone on to beat Demian Maia,
Stephen
Thompson, Vicente
Luque and Brady in the span of about 17 months to claim a place
in the top five in his weight class.

UFC 288 will be held in Newark, New Jersey, at the Prudential
Center on May 6. This pay-per-view card will feature a championship
collision between kingpin Aljamain
Sterling and former titleholder Henry
Cejudo for bantamweight gold. In addition to the newly-booked
Muhammad-Burns fight, other fights on the main billing include
Jessica
Andrade vs. Xiaonan Yan
at 115 pounds, a featherweight contest between Movsar
Evloev and Bryce
Mitchell and another 145-pound match as Kron Gracie
returns against Charles
Jourdain. The lightweight pairing of Drew Dober
vs. Matt
Frevola has since been shifted back down to the prelims,
following its brief elevation when Oliveira-Dariush fell off the
lineup.





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Belal Muhammad to Take On Gilbert Burns in 5-Round Co-Headliner at UFC 288